San Diego Ambulance Companies

John E said:
that it takes union intervention to get a company to obey state labor laws.

I've never had anyone who could explain to me how a PRIVATE ambulance company gets away with not paying overtime in the same manner that virtually every other private company in California is required to.

Does anyone actually know? Public service employees are paid overtime according to the law, so are nurses, RT's, etc. Why aren't EMT's at the private companies?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a staunch believer in unions but it shouldn't require a union to get basic wage and hour laws followed.

John E.
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The law in most states defines overtime as any hours in excess of 40 per week. If you work those 40 hours in 2 days or 7, it doesn't matter. So technically the company is correct in not paying overtime. A union negotiates a contract and defines the terms of work under that contract. They can define overtime as anything on a saturday/holiday, more than 2 hours a week or whatever they are able negotiate.

EMTs working for a private company are simply private sector employees. They will be paid the minimum it takes for the private company to keep their rigs staffed.

There are sometimes additional rules regarding 'essential service' employees, as there are in most hospitals, EMS agencies.. stating that you cannot leave your shift without being replaced, limiting your right to strike, and some other exemptions to regular labor laws, but in the case described above, there is no law being broken.. less than 40 hours a week is straight time.
 
BlackOut said:
hey everyone! So I just moved to San Diego from Santa Clara county (Northern California) and was wondering which ambulance companies run the 911 contract down here in SD. I understand that Rural/Metro in conjunction with the SD Fire Dept form the San Diego Medical Enterprise which holds the biggest chunk of the contract but what other companies run 911? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
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Welcome to SD Man. I'm a dispatcher with Pacific Ambulance. If you are looking for 911 rural/metro is the way to go. AMR has a couple but word on the street is they are talking about pulling out of San Diego they've lost alot of their contracts. we've actually been growing alot. as far as bls goes we are the second largest in the county. rural is the only one above us. we get a good amount of code calls. most of the smaller companies in san diego are on their way out. er, care, balboa, alert, most of them are on their last leg in sd. Unfortunately 911 contracts usually end up hurting companies and costing more money than they bring in. we do alot of transports for donovan correctional facility which are usually code calls, and we take calls turned calls from rural constantly. we also are on the call lists and are first in line for overflow for heartland fire and rancho vista fire. so really the three safest bets here in SD are rural amr and pacific. any other questions let me know man.
 
BlackOut said:
the only reason why I'm wondering how R/M is running in San Diego is because they fun the majority of 911. I am an EMT and would like to work 911 but I'm not sure how they do it here? Anyone know if its EMT+Medic for ALS 911 in San Diego or Medic+Medic??
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Really any 911 contract requires 2 medics for als.
 
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